Rolling swing



C. G. MORTON May 1, 1934.

ROLLING SWING A T Tys v 5: N. m. Q n

2 Sheets-Sheet l lnvenTor. Clarence G. MorTo by/ Q/WZ Sink-$4M Filed May 10. 1932 May 11,, 1934. c MORTON 31,955,772

ROLLING SWING Filed May 10. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May I, 1934 iUITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to gliding swings and particularly to the type of swing which has a rolling motion as distinguished from a swing having a pendulum motion.

" Heretofore the action of swings of the roller type has been unsatisfactory due to improper design of the rolling mechanism. The starting and reversing of the carriage at the end of its travel in this type of swing is accomplished by meansof a positive stop. Such construction subjects the various elements of the swing to excessive stress and moreover cause a jar which is uncomfortable to the occupants of the swing. In stopping the carriage in such a swing substantially the total amount of momentum of the carriage is absorbed by the shock when the end of the travel is reached. No potential energy therefore remains in the carriage to assist its return movement.

The object of the present invention is to provide a swing of the rolling type which simulates the pendulum type of swing wherein the carriage is brought to a gradual stop at the ends of its travel, the weight of the carriage and the occupants thereof serving to supply momentum for the return journey of the swing.

A further object of the invention is to provide a rolling swing which operates smoothly and with slight effort.

A further object of the invention is to provide a swing which has a long travel and which is so proportioned as to prevent the center of gravity of the carriage from extending beyond its points of support upon the rollers.

The invention may be described briefly as follows. The moving or rolling elements are supported upon a stationary base member. The base member is provided with a pair of parallel rails in which are formed a plurality of tracks. The tracks are formed preferably by channeling the rails near their extremities. The channels are so shaped as to present a track of a special contour. The tracks present a low point at their midsection and curve upwardly toward their ends in a curve of gradually decreasing radius which approaches that of the rollers upon which the moving elements travel.

' A' truck is provided to which a plurality of rollers are secured. The truck is provided with side rails and at its central point presents a platform upon which the feet of the occupants rest. At the ends of the truck a pair of rollers are rotatably received and are preferably secured to the ends of a continuous shaft extending transversely across the width of the truck. The rolls are secured upon the ends of the transverse shafts in position to be received in the tracks formed on the base member.

A carriage is provided having one or more seats for the occupants of the swing. The carriage has a pair of parallel rails situated above the rails of the base member. The rails of the carriage are channeled at their ends at a point directly above the tracks in the base member to form a track complementary to that of the tracks in the base member and presenting a concave form toward the axis of the rollers which are received within the channeled portion. The car riage may be provided also with a canopy for the convenience and comfort of the occupants.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the device as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail view on line 3-3 Fig. 1 showing the structure of the rolls and their co-operating tracks.

Fig. 4 is a cross section on line 44 Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an illustration of a modification of the structure of the end portions of the rails showing the tracks and the roll.

In order to more clearly present the principles of the invention a particular construction embodying those principles is illustrated in the drawings. A stationary base member 1 is provided upon which the moving elements of the swing are supported. The base member is provided with a pair of side rails 2 and 3 which may be tied together in any convenient manner such, for instance, as by a plurality of iron bars 4 extending transversely between the rails and threaded at their ends to receive a pair of nuts 5, one of which engages the inner wall of the rails and the other engaging the outer wall thereof. When the nuts are tightened firmly against the rails, they are rigidly held in unvarying position. Furthermore, by means of the nuts the rails may be accurately adjusted into a proper parallel relation.

The side rail 3 of the base member is channeled longitudinally at its end portions to pre-' sent a pair of tracks 6 and 7 while the side rail 2 is channeled to present a similar pair of tracks 8 and 9. The tracks are given a particular form to produce a highly desirable result in the character of the motion and the efficient function of the swing. The exact shape of the tracks will be hereinafter more fully set forth. The tracks are desirably reenforced with strips of metal 10 preferably channel-shaped in cross section. The

channels are preferably slightly wider than the rolls which they receive. The slight clearance thus provided. avoids any binding of the rolls upon the sides of the channels in case any slight inaccuracy in the parallel adjustment of the side rails should be present.

Rolls 11 preferably of metal are received in the tracks and are of sufiicient diameter to insure that their axis will extend slightly above the upper surface of the rails 2 and 3 at all times. A pair of rolls are provided at each end of the base member 1 and are tied together and supported in a vertical plane by means of transverse shafts 12. The rolls 11 may be of a single piece of metal or may be assembled of a plurality of thin disks which may be stamped out of sheet material and assembled more economically than a one piece roll may be manufactured. The rolls are preferably fixedly secured to the ends of the shafts 12. They may, however, be rotatably mounted thereon.

A truck 13 is composed of side rails 14 and 15 extending longitudinally of the base frame and secured together in parallel relation by means of a lattice platform 16 situated near its central point. The side rails 14 and 15 are desirably situated at a point a short distance inside of the side rails 2 and 3 of the base frame. The ends of the side rails 14 and 15 of the truck are provided with journals 17 secured at their extreme ends. The journals 17 are open at their under side to provide for ready removal or assembly of the truck and the rollers.

A carriage designated generally at 18 is situated above and supported upon the rolls 11. The carriage 18 is provided with a pair of side rails 19 and 20 desirably situated directly above the side rails 2 and 3 and channeled at their ends directly above the channels in the rails 2 and 3. The rail 40 19 is channeled to present tracks 21 and 22 while the rail 20 presents tracks 23 and 2A. The rolls 11 extend upwardly into the channels in the side rails of the carriage 18, thereby acting to support the carriage and permit it to roll upon the base member 1.

The carriage 18 desirably is provided with two transversely-disposed seats 25. The seats 25 preferably extend throughout the width or the carriage 18 and may be of any suitable construction. In order to facilitate the transportation of the device from its point of manufacture to the user, it is desirable to so construct the swing that it may be shipped in knocked-down condition and provided with means to readily assemble the various elements at its point of delivery. A desirable means of accomplishing this result is to construct the side members 26 of the seats 25 integral with the side rails 19 and 29 of the carriage. At the manufacturing point, therefore, the two side elements composed of the rails and the side members of the seats may be compl tely assembled as are also the seat members themselves. To assemble the carriage, it is simply necessary, therefore, to bolt the side members to the seat members by means the bolts 27. If it is found necessary to stiffen the structure of the carriage, metal rods 28 may be provided ex tending transversely between the rails 19 and 2G and secured to the rails by means of nuts in the a same manner as the rails 2 and 3 are secured by the nuts 5 upon the rods 4.

The backs of the seats 29 desirably are adjustable to various angles to accommodate the occupants sitting in an upright position or in a reclining position or the backs may be tilted back .of the side members 32.

into a horizontal position. To provide for this adjustment of the backs of the seats they are pivoted at 30 in any desired manner. As herein shown metal pivot plates 31 are provided which are bolted to the side members 32 of the seats and project upwardly to receive pivot studs 33 which extend through the ends of the seat backs 29. The pivot point is so situated that when the backs are tilted down into their horizontal position as shown in dotted lines Fig. l the upper surface of the back is substantially on a level with the upper face of the seat. To support the backs 29 in adjusted position a supporting member 34 is pivoted at 35 to the backs 29, and is provided with notches 35 which engage and lock upon a retainer 37 fixed to a rearward extension The rearward extension of the side members also forms a rigid support for the backs 29 when they are in their horizontal position since the side members of the backs 29 are in the same plane as are the side members 32 of the seats.

If desired, a canopy 38 may be provided to protect the occupants from the elements. The canopy may be supported in any suitable manner and is supported from the arms 39 of the seats in the embodiment illustrated herein. The canopy is provided with four uprights 40 which may be metal rods secured at their upper ends to the canopy and projecting through apertures in the rear ends of the arms 39 and extending for a short distance beyond the lower face of the arms and through an aperture 41 in a metal bracket 42 which is desirably secured to the lower face of the arms 39 by means of the screws 43. The bracket 42 is desirably of U-shaped form presenting side walls 44 in one of which is received a set screw 45 having engagement with the rod. If desired, a more substantial construction may be used to receive the set screw 45. A simple and effective method of accomplishing this end is to insert a square nut id in the space between the wall 44 and the upright 40 into which the set screw projects and has threaded engagement.

An important feature of the invention is the special construction of the tracks upon which the rollers 11 move. The low point of the tracks in the base member 1 is at or closely adjacent the mid-point of the travel of the rollers 11. From this point to the ends of the tracks, they curve upwardly starting from the mid-point with a curve of relatively great radius until at their extreme ends the curve approaches the radius of the rolls 11. The tracks formed in the rails 19 and 20 of the carriage 18 are desirably of the same shape as the tracks in the base member and disposed with their concave curvature extending downwardly. The high points at the ends of the tracks as shown in Fig. 1 are substantially at the same level. It may be desired, however, to change this order of things and raise one or the other of the ends of the tracks as shown in Fig. 5. As shown in Fig. 5 the outer ends of the tracks are raised a substantial amount above the inner ends. The same general contour of the tracks in this construction is maintained. However, the curve must be slightly modified in order to establish a low point near the center of the track. By modifying the structure of the tracks in this manner a somewhat different motion is given to the carriage which more nearly approaches the motion of the pendulum type of swing.

It will be observed that the general form of the curve of the tracks is elliptical. As a result of this form of track the curve changes its radius quite gradually near a central portion and gradually increases its rate of change towards its ends which produces a relatively steep rise at the ends of the track compared to the rise towards its central portion. In the operation of the swing the occupant sits in the seats 25 and pushes with his feet upon the platform 16 which causes the carriage 18 to travel in the opposite direction to that of the force exerted by the operator of the swing. The carriage rolls smoothly upon the rollers 11 a total distance of twice the length of the tracks themselves. As the rollers approach the ends of their travel upon the tracks, the carriage 13 rises at a slow rate near a central portion and at a gradually-increasing rate toward the end of its travel due to the form of the tracks. At the extreme end of travel of the carriage the tendency is for the carriage 18 to rise substantially an equal amount to that of its longitudinal movement, thereby causing the weight of the carriage l8 and the occupants to exert a gradually-increasing retarding force which brings the carriage to rest in a gentle and effective manner. The weight of the carriage and occupants then becomes a potential force which assists in the return motion of the carriage and acts to bring the carriage to its central point if no further force is applied by the occupants since the natural tendency is for the rollers to seek the low point of the curve. If more than one occupant is using the swing, the person sitting in the opposite seat pushes upon the platform with his feet which acts to roll the carriage in the opposite direction. In this manner a continuous gliding motion may be maintained which is smooth and uninterrupted by a jarring motion at the end of each travel of the carriage. Due to the fact that the momentum of the carriage is absorbed by the rise at the end of each travel and re-delivered to the carriage on its return stroke, the motion of the swing is maintained with a minimum of effort.

A valuable feature of a swing constructed as above described is the fact that the alignment of the rollers 11 is automatically maintained since at the end of travel of the carriage if one of the rollers should not have reached the end of its travel simultaneously with the roller at the opposite end of its supporting shaft, the momentum of the carriage will force the roller which is out of proper alignment into its proper position at the extreme end of its travel directly opposite to the roll at the other side of the swing. This automatic ire-alignment is brought about by the condition that when a roller has properly reached the extreme end of the travel, a relatively great force is required to cause it to run beyond such point, whereas a roller which happens to be out of alignment and has not reached its extreme point simultaneously with the roller which has properly reached its extreme point requires a force of less intensity to force it into its extreme position. This force is supplied by the momentum of the carriage 18.

The proportions of the swing are carefully computed to permit the carriage to have a maximum travel of twice the length of one of the tracks, and to maintain a generous factor of stability when the carriage is at the end of its travel, thereby preventing the possibility of the carriage tipping upward at one end. The rolls 11 as shown are of metal but may if desired, be of wood or other material. The faces of the rolls 11 are illustrated as flat which is a desirable form of roll for use in connection with the channel-shaped tracks. The face of the rolls, however, may be channel-shaped and run on tracks which are rectangular in cross section or the rolls may have a concave or a conveXedly-curved face and roll upon tracks which have a complementary convex or concave crosssectional contour. The tracks in these various forms may be entirely of wood or entirely of metal or may be of wood faced with metal.

It will be noted that during the operation of the swing the platform 16 moves only one-half the actual distance of travel of the carriage. Obviously this feature is of great advantage in that it enables the operator of the swing to obtain a maximum motion relatively to stationary objects by applying the power to the platform 16 over a relatively short travel.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

A rolling swing comprising a stationary base frame, a truck having rolls mounted thereon said rolls engaging said base frame and permitting said truck to roll upon said base frame, a carriage supported by and rolling upon said rolls and movable relatively to both truck and base frame, seats upon said carriage, tracks formed on said carriage engaging said rolls during its movement, complementary tracks upon said base frame engaged by said rolls throughout the travel of saidcarriage and truck, said tracks presenting a concave contour toward the axis of said rolls and having a curve whose radius decreases at an increasing rate of change from their central section toward their ends approaching but not equalling the radius of said rolls and a platform upon said truck by means of which a person sitting in a seat may propel the cartriage by pushing upon said platform with his fee CLARENCE G. MORTON. 

